zāo

sediment, rotten, ruined

Phonosemantic compound. represents the meaning and represents the sound.

Components
米 meaning component

  Meaning component

  

rice

曹 sound component

  Sound component

cáo

  

plaintiff and defendant

Evolution

糟 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
糟 Clerical script Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)

Clerical script

Western Han dynasty (202 BC-9 AD)
糟 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

 

zāo

sediment, dregs; pickle; dregs; draff; pickled in wine; rotten; messy; ruined

Most common words with 糟
Freq.
Word
Meaning

糟糕

too bad

dregs

乱七八糟

at sixes and sevens

一团糟

chaos

糟蹋

to waste